Sunday 19 February 2017

A guest to lunch

I got up late and had a cup of coffee then went to the pharmacy to order some drugs - I always have to order these ones, which is a pest but they are necessary - then I went up to Union Square to wait for my lunch guest. I had met Taka when he was small and he had come to Australia to play soccer from Japan, so I had decided to do his mother a favour and help him by having lunch with him. He had only been in the country for two weeks. I had organised to meet him at Union Square, at the corner of Miller Street, but he ended up on another Miller Street, and I told him to get in a cab to get to the Pyrmont Miller Street.

He eventually arrived and we walked down to the Fish Market, which was full to the gills on a busy Sunday. We bought some fish and went back to my place. I had a glass of wine and gave Taka a glass of water to drink. We talked through lunch about his situation playing soccer in Australia, and why Australian players don't normally go to Japan to play. Apparently the trend for Japanese players to come to Australia is a recent one, and Taka told me he is making most of his money working in a Japanese restaurant, with that income supplemented by playing soccer in a secondary league - not the A-League.

After lunch we went for a walk around the headland and back to my place, then I said goodbye and Taka headed off - to play soccer this afternoon in a field near the Harbour Bridge, apparently - and I went to bed and had a nap. Later I got up and put on the washing, and talked to my ex-wife - who is a friend of Taka's mother - on Messenger, about Taka. We decided that he was living a dream, which is something that is beautiful and belongs to young people.

I sat down to enjoy the evening storm. It decided to rain today after dark, although I'm not sure how it affected Taka and his soccer buddies. We can only hope that they had already sought out shelter by the time the rain came on.

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